Russia and Ukraine are both the world’s main suppliers of wheat, but Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor has sent prices soaring and sparked an international food crisis. Kyiv’s exports have ground to a halt, with dozens of ships stranded and some 20 million tons of grain locked in silos at the port of Odessa. On Thursday night, the office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a general agreement had been reached on a UN-led plan during talks in Istanbul last week and that it would now be put in writing by the parties. Details of the deal were not immediately available. It is expected to be signed on Friday at the Dolma Bahçe Palace offices at 1330 GMT, Erdogan’s office said. Before last week’s talks, diplomats said details of the plan included Ukrainian vessels guiding grain ships in and out of mined harbor waters. Russia agrees to armistice on shipment transfer. and Turkey – backed by the United Nations – is inspecting ships to allay Russian fears of arms smuggling. The United Nations and Turkey have been working for two months to broker what Guterres called a “package” deal – to resume Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports and facilitate Russian grain and fertilizer shipments. The US State Department said late Thursday that it welcomed the deal “in principle” and was focused on holding Russia accountable for implementing the deal. Ukraine appeared to express reservations about the deal on Thursday night, as its foreign ministry said another UN-led round would take place in Turkey on Friday. “In short, a document can be signed that will bind the sides to (ensure) the safe operation of export routes in the Black Sea,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko told Reuters. Nikolenko said the Ukrainian delegation at the talks would only support decisions that would guarantee the security of Ukraine’s southern regions, the “strong positions” of the Ukrainian armed forces in Black Sea and safe exports of Ukrainian agricultural production. Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine’s deputy agriculture minister, Taras Vysotskiy, had said the country could quickly restart exports. “The majority of [Odesa port] The infrastructure … remains, so it’s a matter of several weeks in case there are proper security guarantees,” he told Ukrainian TV. Moscow has denied responsibility for the worsening food crisis, blaming instead Western sanctions for slowing its own food and fertilizer exports and Ukraine for mining its Black Sea ports. A day after last week’s Istanbul talks, the US sought to facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports by reassuring banks, shipping and insurance companies that such transactions would not violate Washington’s sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
